Journaling
Overview
Journaling allows students to reflect on their thinking and feelings, process their learning, and connect new information to what they know. As a more informal form of expression, journals can be safe spaces for students to make their learning visible and to share their difficulties, questions, and emotions about a topic. Expressive writing tasks where students can affirm their identity and values can also help mitigate the negative effects of Stereotype Threat and bias.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch how this middle school teacher uses journals to support students' reflection on their participation. By allowing students time to journal their responses to different prompts first, students are able to reflect on their own participation and share this in a way that supports Metacognition. The teacher also discusses the importance of making students who may be shy feel safe and recognized through journaling, thus improving students Motivation to participate in class.
Design It into Your Product
Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.
Watch how Seesaw offers journaling for students as a way to record their learning. Students can record their reflection in multimedia formats such as pictures, videos, and audio clips, and teachers can respond and give feedback on their posts.
References Journaling
Borman, G. D., Pyne, J., Rozek, C. S., & Schmidt, A. (2021). A replicable identity-based intervention reduces the Black-White suspension gap at scale. American Educational Research Journal.
Campbell, C. (2009). Middle years students' use of self-regulating strategies in an online journaling environment. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(3), 98-106.
Dredger, K., Woods, D., Beach, C., & Sagstetter, V. (2010). Engage me: Using new literacies to create third space classrooms that engage student writers. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 2(2), 85-101.
Faircloth, B. S. (2009). Making the most of adolescence: Harnessing the search for identity to understand classroom belonging. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24(3), 321-348.
Flinchbaugh, C. L., Moore, E. W. G., Chang, Y. K., & May, D. R. (2012). Student well-being interventions: The effects of stress management techniques and gratitude journaling in the management education classroom. Journal of Management Education, 36(2), 191-219.
Fritson, K. K. (2008). Impact of journaling on students' self-efficacy and locus of control. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 3, 75-83.
Kliewer, W., Lepore, S. J., Farrell, A. D., Allison, K. W., Meyer, A. L., Sullivan, T. N., & Greene, A. Y. (2011). A school-based expressive writing intervention for at-risk urban adolescents' aggressive behavior and emotional lability. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 40(5), 693-705.
Ramirez, G., & Beilock, S. L. (2011). Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom. Science, 331(6014), 211-213.
Sage, M., & Sele, P. (2015). Reflective journaling as a flipped classroom technique to increase reading and participation with social work students. Journal of Social Work Education, 51(4), 668-681.
Taylor, H. E., & Larson, S. (1999). Social and emotional learning in middle school. The Clearing House, 72(6), 331-336.
Walker, S. E. (2006). Journal writing as a teaching technique to promote reflection. Journal of Athletic Training, 41(2), 216.
White, J. W., & Hungerford‐Kresser, H. (2014). Character journaling through social networks: Exemplifying tenets of the new literacy studies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 57(8), 642-654.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Metacognitive Supports Strategies
Checklists and rubrics help students develop their abilities to self-assess and revise their writing.
Setting overall goals, as well as smaller goals as steps to reaching them, encourages consistent, achievable progress and helps students feel confident in their skills and abilities.
When students reframe negative thoughts and tell themselves kind self-statements, they practice positive self-talk.
Providing space and time for students to reflect is critical for moving what they have learned into Long-term Memory.
When students engage in a dialogue with themselves, they are able to orient, organize, and focus their thinking.
When students monitor their comprehension, performance, and use of strategies when reading and writing, they build their Metacognition.
